True Crime Blog
After the Badge by Danny R. Smith was first published in Mystery Readers Journal: The Journal of Mystery Readers International (Volume 37, Number 4 – Winter 2021). Unsolved murders can haunt those who’ve been tasked with solving them. Though I retired from L.A. Sheriff’s Homicide seventeen years ago, many of my unsolved cases trouble…
As my memoir, Nothing Left to Prove grew beyond 108,000 words, there were parts that had to be cut. For a writer, this is akin to choosing which child to give away at birth. But a general rule to writing is that if it doesn’t move the story forward, slay it.
Bad Dreams go with the territory of being a cop. Over the years, my dreaming of pursuits, foot chases, and shootouts with malfunctioning weapons and bulletproof bad guys have subsided, but it doesn’t take much to reawaken the demons. A good cop movie can do it, and so can a session of telling war stories…
When it was first suggested to me that I should write my own story, I was against the idea of it. Who was I to write a memoir? I’m nothing special—no rock star (though at one time I aspired to be one), super athlete, or war hero. Yes, I have had the opportunity to do…
Frederick Reynolds is a retired Los Angeles County homicide detective and former Compton police officer. Today he joins us to discuss his illustrious and meritorious career, his love of writing, and his newly released law enforcement memoir, BLACK, WHITE, AND GRAY ALL OVER. Join me in welcoming Fred.
This week’s blog is an interview with Michael Black, the author of nearly forty novels in several genres. He is also a military and law enforcement veteran, a fascinating man, and a good friend. Welcome, Mike. Interview Q: Mike, I met you a couple of years ago at the Public Safety Writers conference in Las…
THE NIGHT POLICE is the debut novel of my good friends and fellow authors, Chris Berg and Paul James Smith. Based on real-life events, THE NIGHT POLICE is a deeply complex, page-turning anthology. These thematically linked short stories reunite five warrior lawmen for a cathartic night of drinking, a homecoming of sorts. Instead, they are…
Police and detective stories have withstood the test of time, and they are not going away anytime soon. If you’re writing crime novels but have no law enforcement experience, how do you get it right? Most crime writers have no personal experience with the crimes about which they write, nor with the resulting investigative processes…
The most popular blog I’ve ever written, hands down, is 8 WAYS TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER, a parody of the endless self-help features offered by every blogger and her dog. Although clearly a spoof, this blog has drawn the attention of some ne’er-do-wells scheming to harm their fellow man. The Original Murder Blog Spoof…
NOTHING LEFT TO PROVE is a law enforcement memoir to be published sometime in the near future. It is the story of my career as a deputy sheriff with Los Angeles County, but it isn’t just a collection of war stories; rather, it is a compelling story of pain and healing, self-doubt and certainty, love…